Operating mechanism for clutches



Invent-ors:

Ric hard f Lon A Infor neg R. LANG ET AL OPERATING MECHANISM FOR CLUTCHES Filed July 2, 1941` ,3 Sheets-Sheet 1 Aug. 22, 1944.

ug. 22, 1944.A

R. LANG ET A1. 2,356,598 OPERATING MECHANISM FOR CLUT-CI-IES Filed July 2, 1941 5 Sheets-Shea?l 2 Fig. 4

Aug.' 22, 1944.

R LANG E-rAL 2,356,598

OPERATING MECHANISM FOR CLUTCHES Filed July 2, 1941 s sheets-sheet s Ffg. 6

Inventors:

Rec'hnr'd' Lang KorL Maabcxch Patented Aug. 22, 1`94 Richar Lang, Ravensburg, and Karl Maybach, Friedrichshafen, Germany; vested in the Alien Property Custodian A Application July 2, 1941, Serial No. 409,816

' Germany June 10. 1940` 8 Claims. 4('Cl. 12b-38) Our invention relates to operating mechanisms for clutches and has special reference to doubleacting clutches as they are oftn used in change speed gears of motor vehicles. In many cases such clutches are operated by means of uid pressure and springs are provided whichl are set under tension, such tension vanishing only after the shifting of the respective clutch member was performed.

Generally such operating mechanisms are used in change speed gears o'i big motor cars having many diiierent speeds and because of the large dimensions of such mechanisms it is diillcult to have sufllcient space for them as they make the entire transmission bulky and complicated.

Our invention simpliesthese conditions as it makes possible to provide the springs to be tensioned without affording additional space, so that even greater spring forces are allowable. if desired, than usual.

According to our invention, the spring or springs are placed inside of the iiuid pressure cylinder and are situated between the member (piston) on which the pressure iluid presses and the member which acts on the shiftable clutch element. The arrangement is so that on the rst member being moved by fluid pressure the second member remains at restthe spring being further compressed-until special circumstances allow for the second member to move also, whereby the tension oi the spring is reduced again.

It is advisable, according' to our invention, to provide a rod connected with the shiftable clutch member and to have two piston halves inside of the fluid pressure cylinder, said-pistonhalves being slidably mounted on said rod. The rod has two iixed stops against which the spring or springs bears or bear, preferably by means of rings.

Our invention is applicable to simple or to double acting claw clutches as well as to shiftable gears. It is also oi' advantage with claw couplings having` syn-chronising devices.

Having given a general description oi' our invention we now want to point it out more in detail having reference 4to` the drawings which rep'- resent several examples embodying our Figs. l, 2 and 3 relate to one example. showing is an alternative construction of the showing in In all ci the ilgures the operating mechanism is shown in longitudinal section.-

In the gear casing i shaft 2 is situated on which 'gears 9 and 4 areloosely. iournaled. Sleeve 5- is splined to shaft 2 and adapted to be shifted longitudinally thereon so' that claw teeth 6 and 1, al.-

ternately. may get into engagement with claws 8 and 9, respectively, provided on the side faces of gears l and 3, respectively. Double-armed lever I9/ il serves for shifting sleeve 5. The lower end of this lever is connected to rod i1 to which the two halves IB and il of a piston belong which is adapted to slide inside oi iluid pressure cylinder il. Piston rod I1 has ixed stops 2B and 28 secure thereto and adapted 'to slide tightly inside of adequate' borings in piston halves I6 and l B', respect tively. There are rings 21 and 28 slidable on rod Il between lstops 25 and 2B. against which theY ends of spring bear. Fluid pressure conduits 3l and 32 are adapted to allow pressure fluid to enter cylinder i5 alternately from one or the other side, so as to shift piston halves i6 and I6' to the right or to the' lett and back again, fas circumstances may afford. The control valve for the pressure' fluid is not represented.

In the positions represented in Fig. 1 gear 8 by means of clawy coupling` 'i/9 is connected to-shait y 2. If it is desired to disengagethis connection and tocause gear to be connected to shait 2 instead oi gear 8, sleeve t must be shifted to the right so as to cause engagement of claw coupling For this Apurpose it is necessary to cause pressure fluid to enter cylinder l5 through conduitA 92 and to allow for the pressure iiuid to the left of piston half I6 to escape through conduit 3l. Thus, piston half i9' moves to the left, presses on piston half i8, and both halves together move to their leftl hand end position.` is during this time the side faces oi the claws of coupling 1/9 are still transmitting a turning moment this coupling will not dix-:engage and sleeve will not move, so that lever i9/i8 and rod Il still rest in the position representedin Fig. 1 while the piston halves i6 and it' have already reached the position shown in Fig. 2. Consequently, spring-Sli is'under aliditional tension. as ring 21 bearing against stop 't9 remains at rest whereas ring 28 bearing against stop 2B is shifted to the left by piston half I6'.

As soon as the side faces of the claws of clutch 'U9 are -released, for example by tamng thegas oil the engine to which the change speed gearpart of which is shown-belongs, the enlarged pressure of-spring 30 will cause disengagement oi clutch i/ and move sleeve S to the right until 2 the front faces of the ciaws of clutch s/s get into touch. This position is shown in Fig. 2.

When the claw teeth have come to a mutual position in which teeth and gaps allow for engagement of clutch 6 8 spring 30 will cause sleeve to move further to the right and thus' cause engagement, after which the position shown in Fig.

3 is reached.

faced fiat piston 40 is made use of instead of piston halves I5 and IB'. This makes it necessary to provide two springs 4I and 42 which are situated between piston 40 and stops 43 and 4I, respectively.

In the examples described above the springs 30, 4I and I2 are assumed to be compression springs, whereas in the example -shown in Fig. 5 spring 50 is a tension spring. The middle portion 5I of rod I1 is made with a larger diameter, and the rings on the rod I1 are shaped into sleeves 52 and 53 connected to spring 50 and respectively engageable with the shoulders at the opposite ends of the enlarged middle rod portion 5 I and having collars 55 and 56, respectively, bearing against the front faces ofA the double-faced piston 5I.

' Fig. 6 is still another example in which doublefaced piston 60 has a cylindrical hollow hub projection BI inside of which compression springs B2 and 63 fare' situated, separated by double-acting stop 64 fixed to rod I1.

In the examplerepresented in Fig. 'I a diaphragm is used on the opposite sides of which the fluid pressure is brought to act alternately. The casing 1I is adequately shaped and the diaphragm in its centre portion is connected to a cylindrical hollow hub member 12 surrounding the spring 15 which bears against rings 13 and 1I. The path of these rings sliding on the reduced middle portion 18 of rod I1 is limited by stops 15 and 11 formed as shoulders on the rod at the spots where the diameter changes from the thinner middle portion to the thicker main portions.

Figs. 8 and 9 represent two examples of tightening surfaces. Both relate to the construction shown in Figs. 1, 2 and 3.

It is important that the pressure fluid should not leak through between the rod I1 or the stop 26 and the ring 28, which may happen when the entire device is made small, so as to save in space, and the spring 30 is weak. It then becomes possible that the pressure on the ring 28 causes this ring to move away which should from the bottom of piston I6' be avoided. Therefore, the tightening surfaces a/b and c/d, respectively, are made comparatively narrow so that the specific tightening pressure is very high.

We do not want to be limited to the details described or shown in the drawings as many variations will occur to those skilled in the art without deviating from the scope of our invention as defined by the appended claims.

What we claim is:

1. A fluid pressure operated device for change speed gears comprising a casing, a rod adapted to operate a change speed gear mounted for axial movement in the casing, fluid pressure operated means in said casing slidably mounted on said rod for movement in both directions to the ends of the casing independently of the rod,

means interposed between said rod and said iluid pressure operated means and positioned to store up energy throughout a movement of the fluid pressure operated means in each direction and becoming operating when the fluid pressure operated means is in its respective end positions to shift the operating rod.

2. A fluid pressure operated device for change speed gears comprising a casing, a rod adapted to operate a change speed gear mounted for axial movement in the casing, fluid pressure operated 4means in said casing slidably mounted on said rod for movement in both directions to the ends of the casing independently of the rod, spring means connected to said fluid pressure operated means, actuatable by and storing up energy in response to each movement of the fluid pressure operated means in each direction, stop means on the rod engaged by the spring means during movement of the fluid pressure operated means in each direction vand becoming operative when the fluid pressure operated means is at the ends of the casing under the stored up energy of the spring means to shift the rod.

3. A fluid pressure operated device comprising.

a closed casing, a rod adapted to operate a change speed gear mounted for axial movement in the casing, adouble acting piston in said casing slidably mounted on said rod for movement independently thereof in both directions to the ends of the casing independently of the rod, stop means on the rod, spring means interposed between the piston and the stop means storing up energy in response to each movement of the piston in each direction and acting through said stop means upon release of its stored up energy when the piston reaches either end of the casing, and means for supplying iiuid pressure for moving the piston in opposite directions in the casing.

4. A fluid pressure operated device comprising a closed casing, a rod adapted to operate a change speed gear mounted for axial movement in the casing, piston means in the casing slidably mounted on said rod for movement by fluid pressure in both directions to the ends of the casing, said plston means having a hollow interior portion surrounding the rod,` stop means on the rod, and spring means interposed between said piston means and said stop means in said hollow interior portion storing up energy in response to each movement of the piston means in Aeach direction and acting through the stop means when the piston means is in its respective end positions to shift the rod.

5. A fluid pressure operated device comprising a closed casing, a rod adapted to operate a change A speed gear mounted for axial movement in the casing, piston means in the casing slidably mounted on said rod for movement by iiuid pressure in both directions to the ends of the casing independently of the rod, said piston means having a hollow interior portion surrounding the rod, rings in said hollow portion slidable on the rod and adapted to engage the opposite ends of the piston means, stop means on the rod adapted to be engaged by said rings, and spring means interposed between said rings and surrounding the 4rod adapted to store up energy upon movement of the piston means in each direction and becoming operative when the piston means is at either end of the casing upon release of the stored up` energy to shift the rod.

6. A fluid pressure operated device comprising a closed casing, a rod adapted to operate a change spring 15 speed gear mounted for axial movement therein,

a double acting integral piston in said easing sudably mounted on said rod for movement by iluid pressure in both directions to the ends of the casing, a pair of stops ori-the rod located on opposite sides of, and in spaced relation to the piston, and spring means interposed between the respective stops and the piston adapted to be compressed to store up energy, respectively, during movement of the piston in each direction and being expansible to actuate the rod when the piston is at either end of the casing.

7. A uid pressure operated device comprising a. closed casing, a rod adapted to operate a. change speed gear mounted for axial movement therein, a piston in said casing slidably mounted on said rod for rnovernenty by uid pressure independently of the rod, a stop on the rod, a loose ring on the rod seating against said stop and adapted to be engaged by the piston and shifted thereby away from the stop, a spring on 'the rod interposed between the. ring and a second stop on the rod and tending to hold the ring in bearing engagement lections, a. servo clutch operator comprising a.

closed casing, a rod mounted for axial movement in the casing and operatively connected with the clutch, a double acting piston in the casing slidably mounted on said rod for movement in opposite directions by fluid pressure, spring means interposed between the said rod and the said piston storing up energy in response to each movement of the piston in each'direction and becoming operative when the piston-is at either end of the casing to shift the said rod. v

RICHARD LANG. KARL MAYBACH. 

